The present invention relates to a vault for storing varying collectibles including collectibles that tend to oxidize in the presence of air. Particularly, the invention relates to a vault for storing collectibles and provided with a system for preventing the collectibles from deterioration.
Collecting various items has been known from the time immemorial. Among a great variety of collectible items, metallic objects such as coins, jewelry and the like are perhaps the oldest and one of the most widespread collectibles. Suffice it to say that numismatics has been a passion of billions of people throughout millenniums and, besides providing numismatists with the passion that is characteristic to all collectors, it also serves as a bridge into the recent and distant past, and sometimes future. Environmental factors, such as humidity, impurities, heat, UV radiation and the like, play the critical role in decolorization of collectible items which are not limited to metallic objects and may also include stamps for example. As a consequence, collectibles loose invaluable pieces of information, aesthetic appeal, and historic value. Understandably, oxidation is a major problem, which is associated not only with metallic items, but it also affects a great variety of other collectibles including, for example, paintings.
Furthermore, all of the above-discussed problems are equally applicable to a variety of food products. The most effective solution to the oxidation problem is placing a collectible item in an environment that has no contact or very limited contact with air. Accordingly, the ideal environment for preventing oxidation is vacuum. Many attempts have been made to preserve collectibles, some of which are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,075 to Martell discloses a device for visibly displaying collectible items and including at least partially transparent cover and a one-way evacuation valve which is adapted to permit removal of air from the device. In operation, a collectible item is placed inside the device, and after an external source has been actuated, the air is evacuated from the device through the one-way valve.
While this device attacks a problem of oxidation, it may not be entirely efficient in removing impurities contained in the open air, which has been trapped inside the device before the beginning of a pumping operation. These impurities, thus, may still remain in the device after a vacuum has been created in the device and eventually contribute to deterioration of the displayed item.
Furthermore, the device, as disclosed in Martell, is a display device. Accordingly, it has the transparent cover which does not block a UV radiation causing, in turn, elevated temperatures inside the display device. The elevated temperatures however, may contribute to deterioration of the displayed item even in a vacuum created inside this device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,987 to Rossi discloses a container capable of forming an airtight seal. An evacuation valve is provided on the container allowing the evacuation of air trapped therein after closing the container. Means are also provided to relieve the vacuum to facilitate opening the container.
Similarly to Martell discussed above, Rossi does not provide an assembly for preventing the impurities from entering the storage chamber with air. Furthermore, those impurities that have been left in the interior of this device are not later evacuated and therefore contribute to gradual deterioration of the stored food items.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,648 to Kremen discloses a hermetic enclosure assembly for preservation storage of objects susceptible to degradation by exposure conditions such as ultraviolet radiation, oxygen, humidity, microbial, fungal and insect species, internal activity and external acidic gases.
Similarly to the above-discussed references, Kremen does not disclose means for filtrating incoming air.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a vault for storing items which are reliably protected from environmental factors capable of affecting the quality of these items. Also desirable is a vault which has an air-circulating system for evacuating contaminants that have been trapped inside the vault after it has been sealed. A vault for storing items, particularly collectible items, and having an air filtrating system, which prevents contaminants contained in the open air from entering the vault""s interior, is also desirable.
In accordance with the invention, these objectives are achieved by a vault provided with an assembly that creates a stream of incoming outer air, which while flowing through an interior of the vault evacuates impurities from the interior as the stream exits the vault. To avoid penetration of incoming impurities into the interior of the vault, the assembly has a system filtering the incoming air before it enters the interior.
Thus, in accordance with a cardinal aspect of the invention, the vault chamber is traversed by incoming air which is drawn into the vault"" interior or chamber upon creating a pressure differential between this chamber and an ambient atmosphere after the vault has been closed and an external vacuum source has been actuated. As the incoming air flows through an inlet port of the vault, a filtering system blocks impurities contained in the incoming air from entering the chamber.
As a result, the filtered air flowing through the chamber is further drawn out through a valve assembly, which is in flow communication with the external source, and carries along the moisture and contaminants present in the vault chamber time of sealing the interior. As a result of the filtered air, the oxidation process in the sealed vault is practically eliminated because the filtered air serves as a carrier effectively removing the contaminants and moisture, which may be trapped inside the vault chamber after it has been closed, from the vault""s interior.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, in order to further prevent deterioration of the stored items, which are preferably collectible items that are prone to oxidation, the inventive vault is composed of a material preventing penetration of the UV rays into the vault""s interior. Furthermore, to maintain the inside temperature at a desirable level, the vault preferably is made from a snow-white material. Preferably, the vault is molded in a thermo plastic white snow material five izod or better with a UV stabilizer package contained in this material. The use of the UV stabilizer package in the material allows it to keep the UV rays from darkening the vault""s exterior over time, which would result in penetration UV rays and temperatures higher than an ambient temperature.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a removable part of the vault is reliably sealed to the vault""s housing as the filtered air flows through the housing toward the valve assembly. This is achieved by providing a rate, at which the filtered air exits the vault chamber, higher than a rate at which it enters the filter assembly. Thus, even before reaching a vacuum state in the chamber, the removable part of the vault is reliably sealed to the housing.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the vault optionally may have a monitoring system for closing the filter assembly after a predetermined period of time, during which the filtered air travels through the interior, has lapsed.
Advantageously, the inventive vault is designed to store all the denomination coins and currency. For this purpose, the vault chamber has at least one coin chamber capable of receiving coins from the past, present and future. In addition, the camber may have a series of detachable coin chambers of the same or different size. Thus, once the coins are placed in the coin chamber and a vacuum is created, the vault chamber is free from moisture, humidity, dust, smoke, water, and any other environmental factor that can damage the stored items, such as coins. Note that any item which tends to deteriorate in the ambient atmosphere can be stored and preserved in the inventive vault.
It is, therefore an object of this invention to provide a vault for storing items that are reliably protected from environmental factors detrimentally affecting the stored items.
Another object of the invention is to provide a vault for storing items with an assembly which is capable of removing moisture, contaminants, and other factors affecting the value of stored items from the vault.
Yet another of the invention is to provide a vault for storing items with a filtering system preventing contaminants and impurities contained in an incoming air from entering the vault""s interior or chamber.
A further object of the invention is to provide an economical power consumption system for creating vacuum in a vault chamber.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method for preventing items stored in the inventive vault from deterioration.